Oil futures slipped after a breakdown of budget talks in U.S. Congress

July 25/2011

(Reuters) - Oil futures slipped below
USD 118 a barrel after a breakdown of budget talks in the Congress over the
weekend helped drive investors away from volatile and risky assets on
Monday.

Worries about a U.S. credit rating downgrade or even default curbed
optimism about global economic growth, after last week's preliminary solution to
the euro zone debt crisis helped propel Brent to as high as USD 118.80 a barrel
on Friday.

Brent crude for September was 80 cents lower at USD 117.87 a barrel at
0940 GMT, after falling by more that USD 1 earlier in the session.

U.S. oil was 57 cents lower at USD 99.30, paring losses of more than USD
1 but off a six-week high of USD 99.87 on Friday.